Yet Another Linux Switching Article
Yet again as we move into 2025, we see more articles about moving to Linux. Lets get the obvious out of the way. Yes, most web servers run some type of Linux distro for there web servers and yes most embedded system also might run a Linux type system. I get it, Linux is everywhere. That does not mean that is where people want to live. Linux is great at what it does for these use cases and potentially even more, but your average user might not want to live in that space. That space is having to figure out how the OS works.
Most techie people(systems admins, software engineers, programmers, DevOps, Web admins, any other techie) will sit people down writing articles about it so easy to switch to Linux, here are top 10 reasons why you should switch, its so easy to switch let show you how. Ladies and Gentlemen, no one cares. Linux has a familiarity problem. When you get a MS or Apple OS, the UX can change overtime people to this day a person that might have come from Windows XP can still find there way around Windows 11. Apple really has not change since there OS X versions in terms of how things are installed and places things are at(yes I understand there are more settings but the overall UX experience is still very similar). These OS have a somewhat consistent feel to them that when they upgrade its like ew this looks gross, and that is about 2 weeks before you are fine with it. Linux on the other hand. What type of Desktop you want, Gnome, XCFE, Mate(Gnome fork), KDE Plasma. I must admit I think I messed with Gnome, Mate and XCFE in some type of way, but dude come on. Pick a lane, you tell a user to install Linux and then they meet a screen with 3 different distros and they are probably wondering why there are 3 different versions of the same OS version. Why do they look different, and do I miss out on something. Don't get me wrong some Distro explain the difference however, that is not going to make sense to a user. Now, I already know, "but windows has home, pro, enterprise education and they offer different configuration". Yes they do but guess what, the GUI desktop still looks the same, and most often then not, they still want you to login with the MS online account.
Now of course the GUI is not the only thing. Software is a big one of course. Now Linux does have some software now coming over that are proprietary or there are great open source ones. Sure, Linux has WINE to make windows programs and games work on that end. The issue is, now I have to work to make those software pieces to work. How often do did open up Google and typed. How do I run (insert software here) on Linux. Only to be met with. Here is a 10 step process.
Step 1: Open terminal
Step 2: enter the following command. Don't worry you dont have to understand what its doing(trust me bro)
..
....
.....
Step 10: Now as you can see it is now running.
Then you proceed to read the comments at the end of the article where it says, I am stuck on step 2. Follow by what version of Linux are you on. Then oh its not debian this is for debian, you are on arch or something to that. That right there, you do it enough times, and people just fall out. Now yes, Linux distro now have app stores and flatpak setup where it makes it easy to install software, but not everything is in there and also if their is an issue, the GUI interface to uninstall might run into an issue or a bug which you have to terminal the shit out off to get it to uninstall or fix the install(a few times I had to do this). MS and Apple might have these issues too but its not often enough to care. I can talk about gaming here but honestly, this is very petty. Really gaming is okay until you want 1 game that you want to work that doesn't work and you basically are going to re-image your machine to play it. Its probably some 90's-2000's game that you were like this does not work. Really just have a windows machine on the side. That does not mean its any easier to game on linux, but there are so many articles that talk about this that they do a better job at explaining.
End this post by saying; should you care of switch to Linux, not really. You do what you need to do to interact with the digital world. MS, Apple, or Linux(I am including Android and ChromeOS here) does not matter. Only switch because you want to switch not because the 3 tech people you know that programmed a multi window terminal in the Rust programming language to interact with there tech stack say you should. Switch because you want to learn something new that you might end up using. If not, its not the end of the world. MS and Apple still want your money.
Maybe one day, soon, SteamOS will come out and I will erase this article from existence and then have a new article title. SteamOS here are 10 reasons why you should switch today. Bonus reason at the end.